Democratic filibuster likely kills Alabama abstinence, ‘sexual risk avoidance' bill
Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, listens to a filibuster over a bill to overhaul sex education and make public schools teach 'sexual risk avoidance' and abstinence on April 29, 2025 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Alander Rocha/ Alabama Reflector)
A bill seeking to make Alabama's public schools teach 'sexual risk avoidance' and abstinence likely won't become law this year.
A Democratic filibuster over the General Fund budget Tuesday pushed debate over SB 277, sponsored by Sen. Shay Shelnutt, R-Trussville, to the last couple of minutes before midnight, when the legislative day ends. The late debate meant senators could not vote on the measure.
Shelnutt made his unhappiness at the prospect clear.
'We've only got 10 more minutes. Y'all wasted the whole day. So, let's just waste the last 10 minutes. I know you want to waste the last 10 minutes,' Shelnutt said at around 11:50 p.m. when Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile, asked if he would be willing to delay the bill until next year to allow them to work on something together.
There are four days left in the 2025 session of the Alabama Legislature. Starting on Thursday, bills originating in the Senate that have not yet passed that chamber need unanimous consent to be sent to the House. A single senator's objection can kill a bill.
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Figures asked about the specifics of the curriculum and its implementation during the debate on the bill after Shelnutt initially ignored her on the floor.
'Senator?' Figures asked after a few seconds, following a question about whether he had been in contact with the Department of Education to learn about the current sex education curriculum.
'You've read the bill. You know what the bill does. There's no sense wasting my time answering your questions. Y'all want to stop it, so just you got the mic. Go,' Shelnutt responded defensively.
'Senator, I am sincerely asking you questions about this bill,' Figures responded.
Shelnutt remained defensive during the debate, maintaining that 'this is a good bill' and that he didn't want 'teachers, left-wing, crazy people, teaching my kids about stuff that I don't ever want them to hear about.'
'If you got a problem with it, you got a problem with it,' Shelnutt said to Democratic senators.
The bill would change sex education programs to include information about the 'financial cost of pregnancy and child care, abortion, and adoption,' as well as 'instruction about parenting responsibilities.' It explicitly prohibited 'providing a referral to or information about how to acquire an abortion,' 'misrepresenting the efficacy of or demonstrating the use of contraceptives,' and 'using images that are sexually explicit.'
'I don't want my kids taught that crap. I mean, it's crap,' Shelnutt said on the floor.
The bill also tried to prevent local boards of education from using services from any individual or organization 'that does not endorse sexual risk avoidance or that advocates for or performs abortions.' It also mandated that parents or guardians be given a 14-day notice before any sex education instruction and granted them the right to opt their children out of such programs.
Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, spoke briefly after Figures and pushed back on the claim that Tuesday was a 'wasted day.' Instead, he said, it was an opportunity to compromise.
'It's only a waste when you don't care about things that we're trying to address for the people that we represent. So, if I'm categorized as trying to represent the people that I represent, and someone wants to call it a waste, then so be it,' Smitherman said.
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